Monday, September 28 was International Safe Abortion Day and, this year, the theme was “Diverse Actions, Different Places, One Demand: Access to Safe & Legal Abortion NOW!” This global campaign runs throughout the month of September across scores of countries, all with different contexts. It is framed in a way that allows for application to varied geographies and political situations, rooted in the understanding that abortion is a right, access to it is critical, and engaging with stakeholders is necessary to ensure that reproductive justice is achieved for all.
Abortion is Healthcare
Abortion is a life-saving procedure. Pregnancy can put a person’s life at risk. Eclampsia, ectopic pregnancies, severe maternal illness, and lethal fetal anomalies require intervention that includes termination of pregnancy. Maternal death and pregnancy-related death must be prevented whenever possible. Quality antenatal care is of particular importance for the health, not only of a possible baby, but of the pregnant person.
The call to action by International Safe Abortion Day 2026 said, “Abortion cannot be treated as separate from the health systems in which people receive care. It is connected to primary healthcare, sexual and reproductive healthcare, maternal healthcare, emergency services, essential medicines, including modern contraceptive methods, healthcare workers, referral systems, and community-based services. When health systems are adequately funded, accessible, and responsive, people are better able to receive the full range of care they need. When they are weakened, the consequences extend across the continuum of healthcare, particularly for communities already facing multiple and intersecting discrimination and exclusion.”
While an abortion can be medically necessary, it is not the only type of abortion that needs to be available and accessible. Health has more components than the physical aspect. Emotional and mental health, though often discounted, need to be seriously, deeply considered. Given the state of the world on any given day, it is increasingly important that socioeconomic circumstances are not only considered by individuals, but recognized as a primary determinant across a range of personal, familial, and community decisions.
Abortion is a choice
The actions a person takes in response to their own pregnancy must be in their control. Pregnancy is happening to and in their body, and the reason for their decision to continue or terminate a pregnancy is personal and not owed to anyone. There need not be a medical imperative. People are completely capable of knowing whether or not they are ready and willing to carry a pregnancy to term, give birth, care for an infant, and raise a child. They are not obligated to share their considerations with anyone.
Abortion is a right
Bodily autonomy is directly linked self-determination as the decision one makes about one’s body directly impacts one’s future. This is foundational to all human rights which are set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, further articulated in other international human rights mechanisms including the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
When the right to abortion is not respect and access to healthcare is restricted, it can push people in need of the service to unsafe avenues. This can result in health complications and, in some cases, death. The choice to end a pregnancy comes with a determination to access the right. Some people are able to pay exorbitant prices demanded by local providers or travel abroad. The people most likely to be affected by the criminalization of abortion and the resulting lack of access to it are those who are already marginalized including people with disabilities, people experiencing poverty, and migrant people.
The call to action said, “People with greater resources may be able to travel, pay for private care, or navigate fragmented systems, while people living in poverty, rural and geographically isolated communities, indigenous peoples, Black and Afro-descendant communities, young people, people with disabilities, migrants and refugees, LGBTQIA+ people, and people affected by conflict and crisis face compounded barriers. Health systems must therefore confront structural inequalities and ensure culturally safe, community-responsive and anti-racist models of care that reverse the ongoing effects of colonialism and discrimination.”
Abortion is healthcare. Abortion is a choice that can only be made by the pregnant person. Abortion is a right that every pregnant person has and ought to be able to access. Rights and personal decisions need to be supported by laws and care systems. International Safe Day for Abortion 2026 calls on government to “recognize abortion as essential healthcare and integrate comprehensive abortion care into universal health coverage and national health systems,” media to “tell accurate, nuanced, and stigma-free stories that centre the voices, experiences, and agency of people seeking abortion, as well as providers, community workers, and movements,” and civil society to “challenge abortion stigma, misinformation, and exclusion within our own communities and movements, while reclaiming narratives that affirm abortion as care and healthcare.”
For more information on the campaign, visit september28.org. To support advocacy toward the decriminalization of abortion, contact Equality Bahamas at equalitybahamas.com and on social media via @equality242.
Recommendations
1. Shakespeare in Paradise. A highlight of every year, this theatre festival takes place at The Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts on Mackey Street from September to October. This year, the Shakespeare production is The Merry Wives of Windsor, running at just one hour and injected with dancehall music and humour, much to the delight of elder millennials. There are tickets available for the show on Friday, October 2 at 8pm. Short Tales is an evening of 10 short plays by both seasoned and completely new writers with a broad range of themes. Tickets are available for the show on Thursday, October 1 and Saturday, October 3, both at 8pm. The other productions during the festival include Sizwe Banzi is Dead (with tickets available for Tuesday, October 6, Thursday, October 8, and Saturday, October 10) and First Comes Mourning (with tickets available for Friday, October 9, Saturday, October 10, and Sunday, October 11). Go to ticket tailor.com/events/shakespeareinparadise to purchase tickets.
2. Conference on Trauma, Healing, and Social Transformation in The Bahamas. Hosted by the University of The Bahamas schools of Fine Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences and the Bahamas National Reparations Committee, the conference will be held from October 1 to 4 with most sessions taking place in the Harry C. Moore Library Auditorium. The keynote address, entitled “I Want My People to Be Free: Reparations As Wellness, A Case for Bahamian Emancipation” will be delivered by Chair of the Bahamas National Reparations Committee Niambi Hall Campbell Dean, PhD on Thursday, October 1 at 7pm.
3. Kin by Tayari Jones. Join Feminist Book Club, hosted by Equality Bahamas and Poinciana Paper Press, is reading Kin, the latest book by the author of the bestselling novel An American Marriage. People said, “Jones’s dazzling novel traces the complex range of the Black experience—rich and poor, queer and straight, blessed and cursed—in the Jim Crow South.” Kin was a 2026 Kirukus Prize for Fiction finalist. The publisher says, “A novel about mothers and daughters, friendship and sisterhood, and the complexities of being a woman in the American South, Kin is an exuberant, emotionally rich, unforgettable work from one of the brightest and most irresistible voices in contemporary fiction.” Get your copy of the book and join the meeting on Wednesday, October 28 at 6pm to discuss it. Register to receive Feminist Book Club updates and meeting information at tiny.cc/
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